Leaky Roof
by Snowcouger
Summary: A leaky roof forces Naruto out of his house during a nasty midwinter storm. In an act of kindness Kiba takes him in. xxxx Yes its a yaoi
1. An Act of Kindness

Chapter 1 An Act of Kindness

Drip

Drip

Drip

"Not again..." muttered Naruto sleepily. He sat up and looked at the ceiling. A fat drop of water landed in his eye. "Sunofa!" He got up and sighed. He shoved his bed against the other wall and tried to go back to sleep.

10 minutes later...

Drip

Drip

Drip

"God Damn It !!!"

He jumped up and pulled all his blankets and junk off his bed and tossed them on the couch. He flipped the bed up against the wall and sat on his couch. He glanced at the clock. 3 AM. "Great..." he yawned.

Drip

Drip

Random stream of very colorful expletives.

He went to his closet and grabbed a plastic tarp and threw it over the couch. He grabbed his pillow and a blanket and jumped on the table...

...And just as quickly hopped of the soaked table. "Oh for the love of..." he screamed, now thoroughly pissed off.

"I need a new roof..."

He sighed as he looked around his soaked house. "It's going to be a long night..."

Ring

Ring

Ring

"Huh?" muttered Kiba as he looked around. He grabbed the phone. "Hello?"

"Kiba, it's Naruto. Listen, my roof's leaking bad, and I need a place to stay, at least until this rain stops."

"Naruto?"

"Yes?"

"What time is it?"

"Like 3:20 or something."

Kiba glanced at his alarm. 3:30. He looked out his window. Rain was slamming onto his window. He could hear the wind howling and shaking the trees outside. Frost was even starting to collect on the very edge of the window. 'It's gotta be below freezing for frost to be building up in this weather.'

"Kiba?"

"Huh? Oh...Yeah, sure man. Come on over."

"Thanks. I'll be over in like 10."

"Be careful Naruto. It looks pretty nasty out there."

"Yeah. It's damn nasty out here."

"Bye." 

"Bye."

Kiba hung up and fell back asleep.

Naruto got dressed, stuffed his pillow and a change of clothes into a pack, threw on a rain coat, and grabbed an umbrella before leaving for Kiba's.

Knock

Knock

"Kiba! Let me in!"

Kiba blinked. He jumped up and ran to the door. He was greeted by a very cold and wet Naruto and a storm that could rival any hurricane. What's worse, it was below freezing. "Naruto! Get inside! You're gunna freeze to death!"

Naruto lumbered inside. He was soaked and his clothes were heavy, making it hard to walk.

"Get out of those wet clothes. I'll get you a towel."

Naruto shivered. He took of his coat and sweater. He stood there, pants and shirt dripping.

Kiba came back. "Oh Naruto, you need to take it all off."

Naruto blushed.

Realizing what he said, Kiba corrected himself, "What I mean is...You need to get that wet shirt and pants off. There's no point in trying to dry off with them on." _Although I wouldn't if you took it all off. _He blinked. _Damn it, why do I keep thinking about him like that?_

Still shivering, Naruto tried to pull of his shirt. It was sticky and heavy from being wet, and Naruto's fingers were numb from the cold. He managed to get tangled up in it. "Umgph Kibpha? Alighphtle Hephlp plfleaphse." (Translation: Um Kiba? A Little Help Please.)

Kiba grabbed the shirt and pulled. It didn't budge. "Damn Naruto, you're really tangled up in there. Hang on just a second." He pulled, hard. He managed to lift Naruto of the ground before the trapped blonde slid out.

"Thanks," he said from the floor.

Kiba tossed his the towel. "Get those pants off too. I'll toss um in the dryer."

"Okay." Naruto took off his soaked pants and handed them to Kiba, blushing slightly as he did. He wrapped up in the big, fluffy towel.

"Come on," said Kiba as he led Naruto into the living room. "Sit down. Make yourself comfortable." He left to toss Naruto's soaked clothes in the dryer.

Naruto looked around. He hadn't been to Kiba's very often. Kiba was lucky, he had a big house on the outskirts of town. Most of the rest of them either had small apartment or lived at home still. Naruto had his own house, but it was small and a piece of junk, but it was his.

Kiba walked back in the room. "So..."

Naruto looked at him.

"Do you want something to drink?"

"Um...okay," Naruto shivered involuntarily.

"Still cold eh?"

Naruto nodded.

"Let me get you something hot to drink. Hot chocolate okay?"

"Yeah. Hot Chocolate is fine."

"'Kay. Be right back." He got up and went into the kitchen.

Naruto went back to looking around. He had stopped shivering by the time Kiba came back, holding 2 steaming cups. He handed one to Naruto. "Thank's Kiba."

"Welcome." He took a sip. "I hope you like it strong."

Naruto smiled, "I love it strong. None of that brown colored water for me, thank you."

"My thoughts exactly."

The sipped at their chocolate in silence for a few minutes.

"Hey Kiba," said Naruto.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for letting me stay with you."

"It's my pleasure." _I'd rather have you here in this weather than in that shack that's trying to pass as a house._

"Most people would have just hung up on me. Normally I'd go to Iruka-Senei's, but with him moving and all, there's no room for me."

"Don't worry about it," He smiled.

They finished the chocolate in silence before retiring to bed.


	2. Storm Takes It's Toll

Chapter 2 The Storm Takes It's Toll

It was about 8:30 before Kiba woke up. _What the hell? Since when do I sleep late? _ He looked out the window. Still raining. Wind Still howling. Still freezing. Damn.

He went into the kitchen. He could see Naruto Snoring on the couch. Kiba smiled.

Ahhhchooo! Naruto sneezed so hard that he fell off the couch. "Damn it.." he mutter as he wiped his nose.

Kiba tossed him a box of tissue.

"Thanks."

Kiba nodded. "Are you hungry?"

"Not really. I'm never all the hungry right after I wake up."

"Yeah, same here." Kiba walked over and sat down. "Let's see what the weather's going to be like."

"...going to be a nasty few days. Looks like this rain's going to continue well into tomorrow, maybe

even into Wednesday. It's more than likely going to taper off, ending in a really nasty drizzly mist sometime tomorrow.

The wind should die sometime around noon tomorrow and temperatures should remain pretty low..."

"Great..." grumbled Naruto. "Looks like my house is going to be soaked."

"Yeah, looks that way."

Naruto yawned.

"Hey Naruto?"

"What?"

"If you knew that your roof leaks, why didn't you get it fixed?"

Naruto sighed, "Too much work, too expensive, and I'm a procrastinator."

Kiba laughed and shook his head. "Well, since this weather isn't going to be letting up for a few days, you might as well get settled."

"Yeah."

Flash of Light.

KABOOM

Naruto jumped. "What the hell?!?"

"Calm down Naruto. It was just some lightning."

"I know that..." said Naruto, shaky. "If anything, that storm's getting wilder, not dieing."

Kiba glanced out the window. "It looks like one of those old oaks got split."

Naruto look. "Wait a second..."

"Hey, isn't that..."

"Oh no..." he jumped up and pressed his face against the cold glass.

"Isn't that the one behind your house?"

"Yeah," muttered Naruto, "It is."

CRACK

Time slowed down.

"That can't be good..."

Half of the tree was falling.

Naruto groaned. It was falling toward his house. "Oh please don't hit my house..."

Thundering crash.

Naruto Groaned again. Kiba cringed. You could see the sparks from the snapped power lines.

BOOM

A transformer exploded.

Time slowed even further.

The other half of the tree started falling.

BOOM

Then...

Nothing.

Silence.

Not a sound.

Naruto had gone white as a ghost. He was shaking his head slowly back and forth. His mouth was moving, but there was no sound. Naruto looked like he was ready to faint. Kiba got up quickly and stood next to him, ready to catch him if he fainted.

"Kiba..." whispered Naruto.

"What is it Naruto?" asked Kiba, concerned for his friend.

"It's gone..."

"You don't know that..."

"It's gone..."

"Naruto?"

"Everything's gone..." He was in shock.

Kiba helped him sit down. "Naruto, it'll be okay..."

"Gone...all gone..."

"Oh man, he's lost it."

"Kiba?" Naruto grabbed Kiba's arm.

"What?"

"Call Sakura. She can see me house better from her apartment."

Kiba nodded. He grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" said a shaky Sakura.

"Sakura, did you see the tree fall?"

"Of course I did. It's hard to miss a giant oak falling over."

"Did you see where it fell?"

"Yeah..." she paused."I saw where it fell."

"I need to know where it fell."

"It fell...it fell..." she was almost crying,"...it fell on Naruto's house."

Naruto squeaked. He went even whiter than seemed humanly possible and his head fell onto his hands.

"Kiba, I have to get over there. Naruto could be hurt..." shuddered a very scared Sakura.

"Wait Sakura, you don't have to go. Naruto's okay. He here with me."

"With...with you..." stuttered Sakura.

"Yes. He's here with me, safe and sound."

"Oh thank god!" yelled a very relieved Sakura.

"Okay Sakura, I need to go. Thank's."

"Huh, yeah. I uh...Kiba...tell Naruto I'm sorry."

"Yeah, okay. Bye"

"Bye."

He turned to Naruto. "Naruto I..." he stopped at the look on Naruto's face.

"No..." he was muttering softly, "oh god no..."

Kiba sat next to Naruto. "Naruto?"

A tear slid silently down Naruto's cheek. "My house..."

"Naruto?"

Naruto looked up. He was sobbing now. "It's gone...all gone..."

"You don't know that..." muttered Kiba, trying to sound sure of himself. "Maybe the tree didn't hit your house. Maybe it fell short and it just littering your backyard or something."

Another flash of light.

A new rumbling blast of thunder.

Naruto broke down. His tears streamed down his face.

"Oh Naruto..." muttered Kiba as he pulled his friend into a hug. He let the blonde cry out his pain on his shoulder. _Poor thing...I wish there was more I could do for you..._


	3. Surveying The Damage

Chapter 3 Surveying the Damage

It wasn't until the next morning that they were able to find out exactly how much damage occurred. The rain had tapered off to a nasty drizzly mist. The walked to Naruto's house, bundled up against the wet and cold. There was a crowd standing around the edge of the property. They were relieved to see that Naruto was unhurt. He didn't really notice. His eyes where glazed and held a looked of deep sorrow and smoldering defeat.

A cop drove up. "Come on everyone, back up. Stay back. There power lines tangled in this mess." He looked around. "Was anyone in the house when the tree fell?"

Kiba spoke up. "No sir." He pushed Naruto forward. "The house is Naruto's. He wasn't home when it fell."

"That's good." The cop turned to Naruto. "Was anyone else in the house?"

"No sir."

"Any animals?"

"No sir."

A van pulled up. "Holy hell," said the guy in charge, "Was anyone in there."

"No, thank god," answered the cop.

"Well, they've turned off the electricity so it's safe to start clearing away the debris. The men grabbed their tools and started cleaning away the power lines and the exploded transformer. They managed to cut away most of the tree that had fallen into the front yard before they had to call it quits. "Sorry kid," said the guy in charge. "We've gotten as much as we can cleared away. You'll have to get rid of the rest on your own."

Naruto nodded, still in shock.

The guy looked concerned. "You okay kid?"

It was Kiba that answered, "He's okay. He's just in shock."

The guy nodded. "Well. you be careful/ We've got the power lines cleared away so it's safe to start messing with the tree. I'd stay out of the house for now, at least until you can have someone out here to inspect it. I don't know how stable the building is."

The boys nodded. The man and his crew left. The cop got some information from Naruto and roped off the area before leaving. The crowd slowly dispersed, most offering their condolences to Naruto.

Kiba practically had to drag Naruto home. Naruto didn't seem to want to walk anywhere. They got about half way there we they saw Iruka.

"Naruto!" yelled Iruka as he ran up. "Are you...pant...pant...okay?"

Naruto looked up. He smiled weakly. "I'm okay Iruka-sensei."

"I saw the news. Where you in the house when the tree fell?"

"No, I wasn't home."

"Oh thank god..." He looked at Kiba. "Where you there?"

"No. I was at home when it happened. We saw the tree fall from my living room."

"We? Naruto was at your house?"

"Yes Iruka-sensei. I was at Kiba's. He was letting me stay with him until the storm cleared."

"Your roof was leaking again, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's got to be one of the few occasions when a leaky roof ever saved someone's life."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, that's true."

Iruka pulled Naruto into a hug. "I was really worried about you Naruto. I'm so glad you're okay."

For the second time in 2 days, Naruto broke down.

Kiba smiled. _You're wrong about being an orphan Naruto. You have Iruka..._


	4. Save What You Can

Chapter 4 Save What You Can

It was 2 more days before Naruto was able to get inside his house. Tsunade had personally seen to it that a building inspector was out there to inspect the damage. It was safe enough to get in and get out his stuff, but the house would eventually have to come down. It turned out that the damage cause by the storm to the rest of the village was minor and his friend were able to come out and help him.

"Thanks you guys. You don't know how much this means to me."

"We're happy to help," grinned Sakura.

"Yeah," agreed Choji, "We owe you big for saving our lives all those times."

Lee nodded, ready to get in there.

"Okay everyone, listen up!" called Kakashi. "We have a green light to go in. The inspector said it's stable enough, but i've seen buildings like this fail fast enough. I only want 4 of you in the house at one time. I want 1 person on look-out while the other 3 grab everything that you can save." He turned to Naruto. "Naruto, it's your house, so you get to be in charge."

He nodded.

"Good. Seeing as we have way more people than we need, I want the rest of you out here clearing the debris left by the tree and helping the neighbors clean up. Lee, Kiba, and Shikamaru, you're with Naruto. Everyone else, pair up and I'll assign you to a house."

"What a drag..." sighed Shikamaru. "Why do I get stuck going into the unstable building..."

Glare from Kakashi.

Shikamaru stifled the rest of his complaint.

General confusion while the others pair up.

"Alrighty then," began Naruto, "Let's get in and out as fast as possible."

Nods of agreement.

"Let's go..."

The house was trashed. A window had be broken in by a piece of flying debris and the wind had blown everything around. Most of his things had been sitting in water or soaked through for so long that it was starting to smell. The promptly through most of it away, knowing that it was beginning to mold and probably beyond saving. Luckily, most of his clothes were still dry, ad bet a little smelly from the stuff that was moldy. His appliances were wrecked, owing to the massive amounts of water that had gotten into the house. His house looked more like it had been flooded than that a tree had fallen on it. End the end, he was only able to save his clothes, a few pictures, and his weapons. All his scrolls and other paper items were pretty much gone. Thankful for the small size of the house and that Naruto didn't have much to begin with, they managed to finishes relatively quickly. In and out in about 2 hours. Not bad, not bad at all.

They packed what they had managed to save outside, grateful for the fresh air and lack of the mold smell. Everyone came back and they had a quick lunch break before going back to the neighborhood clean up.

It was nearly dusk when they finished.

"Good work everyone," congratulated Kakashi. "You all did a good job."

Ragged, tired cheer.

"Okay then, ya'll can leave." Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura and Naruto shook their heads. "Same old Kakashi," they muttered in unison, before laughing at the shared thought.

Everybody started to leave; most heading home for some food, a warm bed, and some need sleep. It had been a long day.

The sun was down before Kiba and Naruto managed to get home. They stashed what they had saved in Kiba's shed. He was going to store it until Naruto could find a new place.

"Burrrrrrrr," shivered Naruto as the went inside. "It's freezing out there."

"I know right. I was hoping it would warm up today, but it looks like its going to get even colder. At this rate, we may have snow on the ground soon."

Naruto nodded. "Been awhile since we had a decent amount of snow." The winter before had been very mild. It had snowed a few times, but it hadn't lingered long.

Kiba went to the kitchen. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Huh? I haven't even been thinking of food," he lied unconvincingly, especially since his stomach decided to growl just as he said it.

Kiba shook his head as he open his fridge. "Uh-oh." It was empty accept for a box of bazillion year old baking soda that had been sitting in there since he moved in.

"What?"

Kiba opened a cabinet. Nada. Just a few ancient cans of peas. "Crap..." he muttered as he went from cabinet to cabinet .Kiba sighed. He knew that he needed to go to the store, but had put it of because of the weather.

Naruto blinked in surprise. "What? You're outta food?"

Kiba nodded. He reached into his pocket for his wallet. Almost as empty as his fridge. Not even enough to order a pizza. Damn.

"Order a pizza?"

"Outta money..."

Naruto grabbed his wallet. $20. Not a dime more or less. "I've got enough for pizza. At least I think I do. Enough for me anyway..."

"I got a $10, what you got?"

"I've got $20. That's enough for pizza."

"Yeah." He grabbed the phone and called the pizza place. "What you want on it?"

"Anything but pineapple or anchovies."

"Pepperoni it is..."

Okay we've come to an impass. I have this story going two different directions from here. I have this evolving into a little romance between them, and I have a version that keeps it just friends. The direction I take this depends on ya'll. Review or message me and tell me which version you want; or if you even want it to continue.

-Snow 


	5. Waiting on Pizza

"Hope the pizza guy didn't get stuck out there..." muttered Kiba, his stomach growling loudly.

"Yeah, but you gotta give the poor guy credit. In this weather i'm surprised that they'd even deliver."

"Right..."

Akward-ish silence...

...well, akward for Kiba anyway. Naruto's eyes we glazed again and it was obvious that he had spaced out.

_"He's turning into Shikamaru..."_ thought Kiba. Akamaru wondered by, having just woken up from a very nice nap. He stopped and stared at Naruto, as if just now realizing he was there.

_"What the...?"_ wondered the pup. _"When did the blonde one show up?"_ He walked over and jump up on the couch next to Kiba. "When did he get here?"

Kiba glanced down at Akamaru. "How did you not notice him before?"

"Ugh...maybe becuase i've been asleep all day. When did he get here?"

"Akamaru, you are a moron. He's been here for nearly a week now."

"Baka. I've been at you dad's all week, remember?"

"Oh yeah... I forgot."

"Again, baka. I'm gunna go eat now..." He jumped down and walked over to his food bowl.

_"Akamaru you moron. I have got to stop letting you hang out with Shikamaru..."_ He looked up and noticed Naruto watching him. He stared back, waiting for the other to say something.

"Kiba?"

"Yes Naruto?" 

"What were you two talking about?"

"Huh?"

"You and Akamaru, what were you talking about. You were saying something about me and then you switched from English into what ever you call that dog language."

"I did? I'm sorry Naruto. I don't even realize when I do that anymore."

"It's okay. I was just wondering what you were talking about anyway."

"Nothing really. Akamaru hadn't realized you where hear and he asked how long you had been here."

"He didn't know I was here?" 

"Yeah, he's been getting kinda spacy since i started letting him hang out with Shikamaru."

"Oh, okay then."

Again with the akward silenece...

"Um...Kiba..."

"Yes Naruto..."

"I um...Well...I..." He choked out. "I just wanted to say...I really appriciate all you done for me. I know i've been mean and even evil to you before, and I'm really sorry for that, but I really thankful for everything you've done. You really are a great friend."

"Well Naruto, I enjoyed all those pranks and fights and stuff you used to do. Actually, I looked forward to them. They really were the best ways to spend the dat back then."

"Yeah, we sure had some fun times back then."

Nostolgic silence...

"Remeber that time I hid in the tree and poured ice water all over you?"

"Oh yeah, I remeber all to well. If it hadn't been hotter than hell that day I prolly would have killed you. Honestly, I was glad you did. I felt like I was gunna have a heat stroke."

"Well, if you hadn't always worn that coat of yours then you wouldn't have had that problem."

"Hey, leave my coat outta this. For that matter, I didn't have my coat yet! You can't rip on me for that." 

"Hehehehe, I know you didn't have it yet. I was hoping you would catch that."

"Ha-ha. I'm smarter than that you bugger."

"I know. I just like to mess with you."

Kiba chuckled, "Little bugger. One of these days you're gunna say something really stupid and I'm gunna slap you."

"No you won't."

"Wanna bet?"

"Hey, remeber who kick you're ass in the Chunnin exams."

"That was along time ago. I've gotten strong since then."

"Yeah, but no where near as strong as me."

"Just wait untill the weather clears. Then we'll see who's stronger."

"You're on."

Knock

Knock

"And that will be the pizza..." said Kiba as he stood up and walked toward the door.

"Took him long enough..."


	6. More of the Same

Knock

Knock

"And that will be the pizza..." said Kiba as he stood up and walked toward the door.

"Finally..." muttered Naruto.

Kiba opens the door.

Pizza guy steps inside, "Sorry it took so long, roads are slick from the ice that keeps building up."

"No worries man. What do I owe ya?"

"$25.50."

"Wow, thats cheaper than I remember." The pizza guy nods as Kiba grabs the money. "Keep the change man." The guy nods and pulls the pizza out of the warming case. He hands it to Kiba. "Enjoy." Kiba takes it, "Be carefull out there." The guy waves and leaves. Kiba closes the door. He turns to see Naruto drolling where he sits. "Geeze man. Can we not droll on my carpet?"

"Sorry," said Naruto as Kiba put the pizza down on the table. "Couldn't help it. Pizza's my second favorite food after ramen."

"I thought ramen was your second favorite food after ramen?"

"Ha-ha very funny. I do eat other thing than ramen. Just not very often."

Kiba chuckled and opened a box. "Mmmmmmm. Looks good..."

"Definatly..."

"Well, dig in..." said Kiba as he grabbed a slice.

-----------------------------------------

Naruto sighed, now very happy and very full. "That was good. Glad we thought of it."

Kiba nodded and reached for the TV remote. "TV?"

"Sure, why not..."

Kiba flicked it on. "Let's see what's on..." He flipped channels for a minute. "Hmmmm...junk...junk...junk...more junk...sports...news...here we go...weather forcast..." They listend to the forcast...

"...And it looks like more of the same weather for the next few days. The front that was supposed to clear this junk out has

stalled and won't be making it here anytime soon. So you'd better keep those rain coats and parkas ready cause it looks like

there's no end in sight. The only real good news it that we aren't expecting any more big storms like what we had last week..."

"Great..." sighed Kiba. He glanced at Naruto. "I guess you're stuck here for awhile."

Naruto looked confused, "I guess? Why, is that a problem?"

"Oh no Naruto, I didn't mean it like that." assured Kiba. "You can stay as long as you need to." _Or you could stay forever..._

"Oh, okay then...It sounded like you were trying to get rid of me for a second there..." he mentally sighed in relief.

Kiba resumed flipping channels...

----------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night...

Naruto shivers. "Didn't that weather guy say it was supposed to stay about the same temperature, cause it feels like its getting colder."

"Hey yeah, I noticed that too. Hmmmm...I'm going to have to hunt down a few more blankets at this rate..."

Naruto nodded. _"I could always keep you warm..._ He blinked and tried to push the thought from his mind.

Little did he know Kiba was having similar thoughts...

They both blinked...

"So..."

"Well..."

Kiba coughed...

Naruto looked around the room...

So much akward, so little time...

"Well, I had better probably go find those blankets..." Kiba stood up and walked to the hallway closet.

----------------------------------------------

_"My god,"_ thought Naruto, _"What is with me today...Since when do I have nothing to say...?" _He sighed and shook his head. He glanced over toward Kiba. _"I wonder..."_

----------------------------------------------

Kiba rumaged throught the closet. His thought however, weren't on the cold or finding more blankets. _"Geeze, what is with me today...Since when do I not have anyhting to say..."_ He chanced a glance back at Naruto, who had just turned from studying him. "_I wonder what..."_

----------------------------------------------

_"I wonder what's he's thinking..."_

---------------------------------------------

_"Í wonder what he's thinking about over there..." _muttered Kiba as he went back to rumaging. He finds his warmest woolen blankets. "There we go..." he said outloud. He walked back to the living room. He tossed one blanket to Naruto. "Here ya go. That should keep you warm."

_"I'd rather have you keep me warm..."_ thought Naruto. "Thanks."

"Welcome." Kiba glanced at the window. Ice was building up on the window. "Well, I'd better let Akamaru in..." He walked to the back door and opened it. "Akamaru! Get in here!" Akamaru runs up and barks, "Too you long enough." Kiba doesn't respond, insted he closes the door and walks back to the living room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


	7. Dangerous Cold

They sat around for awhile longer, talking about this and that, not really saying anything. It was around 11 PM when Kiba finally decided to go to bed. Well, he really didn't want to go to bed, but he knew that if he stayed much longer he would start to babble things that he didn't want Naruto to hear.

"Well, i'd better turn in..." muttered Kiba as he stood up.

Naruto was very tempted to tell him to stay. Insted he bid his friend a good night and watched him depart. _"Damn it..."_

----------------------------------------

Naruto awoke, freezing cold and almost numb. He sat up as best he could. His mind was sluggish due to the cold. He shivered and pulled his blankets tightly around him. He glanced at the windows. They had iced completely over. His teeth chattered as he shook. He held his blankets tight and stood up, knowing he needed to get moving if he wanted to warm up. He paced back and forth for a few minutes untill he had warmed up some. His mind slowly cleared as his body temperature rose. Then, suddenly, a thought struck him like a ton of bricks. _"OMG Kiba and Akamaru!!!"_

He ran to KIba's room, trying not to trip over the blankets he still held tightly. He pushed the door open slowly, struggling against the hinges that felt like they had iced over themselves. He stared at the bed. KIba was shaking badly, obviously freezing cold. "Kiba!!!" yelled Naruto as he ran to the bed.

He jumped in next to the boy and threw his blankets over the freezing cold boy. He could feel Akamaru, curled up under Kiba's blankets, shaking just as badly as his master. "Wake up Kiba!" yelled Naruto as he shook the canine-boy. "Wake up damn it!" Kiba groaned softly and his teeth chattered loudly. Naruto slid under Kiba blankets and hugged him, sharing his body warmth. "Come on Kiba! Wake up!" Akamaru wormed his way up onto Kiba's chest and barked, tryng to help Naruto wake up his master. Kiba moaned again and moved his arms. He mumbled something incoherant and Naruto nearly cried in relief. "Come on Kiba, just open your eyes. All you have to do is open your eyes..."

Kiba groaned again and slowly, ever so slowly, opened one eye. A tear slid down Naruto's cheek, "Oh thank god!" Kiba blinked, "Nar-r-ut-to...Wha--wha-what...happ-pp-ppened? Wha-wha-why is-s-s it-t-t...s-s-oo kc-kc-c-cold?" Naruto had to fight to keep from crying, he was so happy to hear Kiba's voice. "The tempurature dropped again I guess. I woke up freezing cold and alomst numb. When I had warmed up enough for my head to clear I realized you where probably just as cold as I had been. I ran in here and found you slowly freezing to death. I was so worried..." he choked and fought back the tears of joy and worry. Kiba smiled. "Naruto, you can cry, it's okay, i won't tell anyone." Naruto smiled and punched Kiba's arm playfully. Kiba was so numb that he bearly felt it.

Naruto snuggled closer and lay his head on the other's chest. Kiba sighed contently. Naruto smiled as the tears flowed down his cheek onto Kiba's shirt. Kiba reached his arm up and ruffled Naruto's hair. Naruto had to force himself not to laugh. He'd had a dream very similar to this just before he woke up. "Kiba..." Kiba looked down. "Yes Naru-kun..." he said sleepily. Naruto blinked and smiled, "Naru-kun? Since when am I Naru-kun?" Kiba laughed, "Since right now." Naruto giggled and looked up at Kiba, "I like it." Kiba grinned, "I'm glad." He slid he arm around Naruto's waist and pulled him closer. "I've wanted to do this for so long..." "Me too," sighed Naruto, happy and warm. They settled in for the night, now happy and warm, ready for anyhting that cold dark night could throw at them.

--------------------------------------


	8. Snowshoes

They weathered that dangerously cold night together. It wasn't appearant just how close to disaster they had come untill the next morning. They lay in Kiba's bed, warm and happy. It was still bitterly cold, but no where near as bad as the night before now that the sun had risen. Kiba waited untill Naruto woke up to turn on the TV. He flipped straight to a weather channel and they watched...

"...Last night was the coldest on record. Temperatures dropped into the negative teens and preliminary

reports of people that have frozen to death in their homes have been recieved, but local police are not

commenting as of yet..."

"Oh man..." groaned Kiba, his happy little world shattered.

"That's horrible..." 

"Yeah..."

Kiba pulled Naruto closer. "If you hadn't have woken up..." He choked, "...that could have been us."

Naruto nodded. "I just hope the other's are okay."

"Yeah..." He flipped the channel. Every channel was reporting the same thing. Well below zero temperatures. People freezing to death in their homes. Snow and ice piled 5 feets high in some places. They were calling it the worst freak storm in the history of the village. Naruto tried to call Iruka, but the phone lines were all busy. He tried his ceel phone, but there was no reception. "Damn...looks like we're cut off from everyone else."

"Looks like..."

Silence...

Akamaru poked his head out from under the blanket and sighed.

It was going to be a long day...

----------------------------------------------------------

It was noon before either of them got out of bed. Naruto's stomach was growling and Kiba wanted to see what it looked like outside. They walked into the living room and Kiba cranked the heat. "Ta hell with the heating bill, I'm not freezing to death..." he muttered. Naruto only nodded. He'd be happy to split the sky-high bill. It wasn't like he was going anywhere soon.

-------------------------------------------------------

They struggled to push the back door open. The five foot wall of snow behind it wasn't making it easy. Finally, after a half an hour of trying, they managed to get it opened. Grateful for the door that closed off the small back room from the rest off the house, Kiba shivered in the freezing cold wind that rushed in. He climbed up onto the top of the snow pack and took a few steps out. About five feet from the door he sank like a rock into the soft snow. His head and shoulders stuck out from the hole and he sighed. "Looks like we're stuck inside for awhile..."

Naruto sighed. "Great... we have no food, the water pipes are probably frozen, so we probably dont have much water...we're screwed."

"Looks like..." sighed Kiba as Naruto helped him up out of that hole.

"If only I had my snowshoes..."

"Where are they?" asked Naruto as he closed the outside door.

"In the shed..."

"Great..."

-------------------------------------------------

Few hours later...

Naruto's stomach growled angrily. "Ugh...why did we eat all the pizza yesterday?"

"I don't know..."

"I feel like such an idiot..."

"So do I..."

"If only we had those snowshoes..."

"Yeah..."

Naruto blinked and slapped his forehead. "Now I really feel like an idiot! I'm such a moron..." He jumped up and ran back to the back room.

Kiba ran after him. Naruto waited for him, He closed the door behind him. Opening the back door he said, "I should have realized it sooner..." He formed a series of handsigns,"...I know fire juitsu." He spat flames and melted the snow in front of them for about 20 feet. Kiba laughed and followed him as the walked the path Naruto was creating. They reached the shed in about five minutes. Kiba ran in and grabbed his snowshoes. Luckily for Naruto, he had two pairs. They carried them back to the house and bundled up under as many layers of clothes as the could. Twenty minutes later they were ready to leave. Kiba stopped and turned downt he heat, not want to leave it on full blast with him out, afraid he might start a fire. They made there way out, heading toward town, intending to stop and check on their friends before finding an open store and getting some food.

-----------------------------------------------


	9. Full Belly Happy House

"Wow..."muttered Kiba as he looked over the side of the snow drif he stood on. "Looks like we got lucky; the snow's piled much higher over here." He shook his head. "I'm surprised its this thick this far into town. You'd think it would be thinner here."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty bad everywhere by the looks of it." He glanced around. "Lets see...I think we need to go left up ahead."

"You think?"

"I'm not sure. Everything looks different under this much snow. And all the street signs are blown over or covered so their no help. Just gotta trut my unfailing sense of navigation." 

Kiba tryied very hard not to laugh as he followed Naruto.

--------------------------------------------

Of course they wondered around completely lost for about an hour before they finally found anywhere they reconized...

"Finally..." sighed Naruto over his now very angry stomache. They had reached the general store. Kiba stumbled up behind him. "Damn it..." he muttered. He had snapped one of the straps to his left snowshoe. "Please tell me it's open."

Naruto pushed the door and stuck his head in, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

The store clerk stuck his head out of the back room. "Yeah, we're open. I'm not sure how long I'm going to stay open so you might want to hurry up."

Naruto stepped inside. "Okay then. We'll be quick." They hurried about, getting enough food to last them for at least a week, more if they could keep from pigging out when they got home. Naruto went up to the counter to pay. "How much?"

The clerk shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I'll put it on your account and you can pay me later. I just want to hurry up and close."

"Thank you sir!" smiled Naruto as he and Kiba grabbed the bags of food. They hurried out and headed home.

---------------------------------------

Grateful for being able to retrace their steps to get back to Kiba's house, they out away the food and made lunch. Kiba went to turn the heat back up when he noticed a messege on his machine. "Huh? Looks like someone tried to call while we were out..."

"Who called?" asked Naruto from the kitchen.

"Don't know yet. Let me listen to the messege first." He hit play... Iruka-sensei's strained voice issued forth...

"Finally! I've been trying to get through all day! I really hope you two are just outside or something right now and thats why

you didn't answer. Call me back soon okay?"

"Well," chuckled Kiba, "At least we know Iruka-sensei is alright." Naruto sighed and picked up the phone in the kitchen...

-----------------------------------------

20 minutes later...

Naruto had finnaly managed to get a very worried Iruka calmed down enough to where he had stopped threateningto come over and stay with them untill the snow thawed. He hung up the phone and sighed. "Kiba, did your dad ever act liek that after you moved out?"

Kiba blinked, "No...not really...then again my dad isn't the worrying kind."

"Oh...okay then...anyway, time to fill my empty stomache..." He started inhaling the sandwhich he'd made.

Kiba stared, amazed at the speed and amount Naruto could eat. "_And I thought I was bad...He makes me look like Ino..."_

---------------------------------------

After lunch they settled down in the living room and turned on the TV. They avoided the weather and local news, both not wanting to here anymore about last night than they had too. It didn't take long to figure out that it was impossible to avoid the news, seeing as it was on every channel. Finally they setteld on one of the local news stations...

"...still no confirmations of freezing deaths, althought we are still recieving many reports that seem to

back up the claims. Damage estimates are still being tallied, but it looks like last night's storm was not

only the worst on record, but will also go down as one of the costliest on record. Just as in the storm

that hit the village last week, many trees have been uprooted and have fallen over, causing localized

power failures that are even more deadly in these extreme temperatures. Citizen are advised to stay inside

and keep warm as best you can. We warn you not to start any fires indoors..."

"What idiots would start a fire indoors?"

"When you're desparate you'll do almost anything. If i didn't have any power or and heat I'd be mightly tempted to start a garbage can fire or something to keep warm."

"I guess..."

Ring

Ring

Ring...

"I guess the phones are still working..." said Kiba as he reached for the phone.

"Please don't be Iruka again..."

"Hello?"

"Kiba? Boy I'm glad I got through. You guys okay out there?"

"Yeah Shikamaru, we're doing fine here. What about you?"

"Good as can be expected. Kinda trapped in the house becuase of all the snow, but not as bad as the poor people below us. Glad my apartment is on the third story. We had to go down earlier and dig out the people on the first story."

"Damn, sounds bad. The snow was piled five feet high at my back door this morning, but we managed to get out."

"That's good. Well anyway, I just wanted to make sure ya'll are okay. I heard from Shino earlier and he said that Hinata and Neji are okay. I saw Ino walking around earlier this morning so she's okay. My dad talked to Choji's dad a little while ago so they're alive."

"That's good. Anyone talked to Lee or Tenten?"

"I haven't, but Ino said she had talked to Sakura and she said she'd talked to Lee. No one's heard from Tenten yet, but knowing her she's prolly on the phone with Neji right now."

"Yeah prolly."

"Okay well, I'd better go. Best not to tie up the phone lines right now."

"Okay, bye Shikamaru."

"Bye Kiba."

He turned to Naruto. "Shikamaru said everyone else is alive. Sounds like we all made it through the night."

Naruto sighed in relief. "I'm really glad i was here last night. If i had been back home I would have defenatly frozen to death. That old heater just wasn't powerful enough to keep me warm through a night like that."

Kiba snuggled up closer to Naruto and put an arm around his shoulder's. "I'm glad you're here too Naru-kun."


	10. Spring Thaw

They spent the next few days indoors, waiting on the snow to finish thawing. The nights were still very cold, but nothing like that night. As the snow melted and the weather warmed, the people of the village began to rebuild. It was slow work. The ground was soft and muddy, which made it nearly impossible to for the trucks and tractor hauling supplies to get around. It also ment that people had to wait to sure up sagging foundations and replants the many trees that had been uprooted and could still be saved. The shops stayed closed for nearly four days before they were finally able to reopen. Although the finaly cost estimates for the storm wouldn't be known for months, the human toll was all to aparent. 40 people lost their lives the night of the sotrm, mostly due to hypothermia. In the days that followed 25 people died from fire or fire related accidents. It seemed that some people chose ot to heed the words of caution about setting fires and payed with their lives...

-----------------------------------------------

Naruto blinked sleepily and yawned. "_What time is it?"_ He glanced over to the clock that sat on Kiba's bedside table. 7:30am. "_Great..."_ he yawned again. He sat up as Kiba streached. "You're up early..." he mumbled sleepily. Naruto yawned yet again and lay his head back down on Kiba's chest. Kiba reached up and stroked Naruto's wild hair. "Let's sleep in today..." he sighed happily, "It's not like we have anything to do..." Kiba nodded and shifted into a more comfortable position.

----------------------------------------------

Hour later...

Knock

Knock

"Sunofa..." mumbled Naruto.

"Ignore it..." yawned Kiba.

Knock

Knock

"Just pretend someone's not there..."

Naruto put a pillow over his head.

Clink...a key was slid into the door lock...

"Crap..." muttered Kiba. "Has to be Shino, Hinata, or Kurenai. They're the only one's with a key to my house..."

Neither made any effort to get up.

"Don't worry. I locked the bedroom door. they can't get in..."

The door opens...

"Damn it..."

"Kiba?" Kurenai stuck her head in to look around. Kiba lifted his head off his pillow and looked at her. "Hey Kurenai. What bring you here?"

"Why didn't you answer the door?"

"I was asleep. I didn't hear it untill you had already come inside."

"Oh..." She noticed something odd about Kiba's bed. "Kiba, who's that with you?"

Naruto twitched. He was hoping she hadn't seen him. He pulled the covers off his head and smiled weakly. "Hello Kurenai-sensei."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Naruto? Why are you in b..." Her eyes widened and an understanding look passed over her face. She smiled and continued, "Well anyway...I was going to see if you wanted to go train now that the snow has melted, but I can see you're plenty busy here. I'll just leave you two alone..."

Both boys blushed as Kurenai turned and closed the door, smirking. They waited until Kurenai left before either said anything.

"Well..."said Kiba as he sat up, "Looks like the secrete's out."

Naruto sighed and stood up, "Yeah..." He yawned. "Better Kurenai than any of the others. At least she won't go blabbing to everyone."

"True...What do you want for breakfast?"

"Ehhhh...I'm not really hungry."

"Same. Anyhting you want to do today?"

_"I can think of a few things..."_ "Naw, not really."

"She had a good idea with training. Let's go out and do a little sparing. I could use the exercise."

"Okay."


	11. Word Spreads Fast

The training grounds were muddy, but the boys didn't mind. They were just glad to be outside and able to move around. They had been sparring for several hours before someone else arrived. Of course, they were too focused on each other to notice...

_"Who's that..." _wondered the new person as he watched from behind a tree. _"Looks like Naruto and Kiba...Hmmmmm...Since when do they spar together?" _He watched for a few minutes before the boys stopped for a break.

------------------------

"My god Naruto, what kind of training does Jiraiya have you doing? Last time I faught you I could at least see where the hell you were. You're almost as fast as Lee now."

"Yeah, I wish. Bushy-brow is wayyyyyyy faster than I'll ever be," panted Naruto.

"Not by much."

"Hahahahahaha. Thats what you think. You should see him without his weights on now. You think he was fast before, now he moves at the speed of light."

"Ehhh i guess... Toss me my water, will ya?"

Naruto tossed him the water bottle and sat down on one of the wooden logs. Kiba grabbed his pack and sat down next to him pulling out their lunches and handing Naruto his. Ever ready to eat any and everything in front of him, Naruto dug right in.

"Slow down Naruto. You're going to choke if you keep eating like that." _"Now I know how he beat Choji in that eating contest..."_

As if on cue his eye's bugged out and he started choking. Kiba slapped him on the back untill he coughed it up. He inhaled deeply and took a drink of water.

"What did I just tell you? I swear, sometimes I wonder if you and Choji are related. You eat just like him."

Naruto grinned. "I may eat like him, but at least I train harder. Anyway you're a good cook. Lord knows I can't cook like this. Well, I can grill better than you, but everyone knows that."

Kiba punched him playfully in the arm before ruffling his hair. "You scamp, I don't know why I put up with you."

"Becuase you love me," grinned Naruto.

"There's that..." he smiled, "...and you make everyhting so interesting. It's too quiet without you my little blonde kitsune."

Naruto's face shone like the sun.

---------------------------------------------------

They never heard the startled gasp or the dull thud of a body falling onto soft earth. They stragner watching them was shocked. _"Since when are Naruto and Kiba together???"_ he thought as he picked himself up of the floor. _"Hmmmmm maybe Kiba offering to let Naruto stay with him wasn't so weird after all. I wonder if anyone else knows about this?"_ The stranger turned and ran back to the village.

------------------------------------------------

"Did you hear something?" asked Kiba as he reached for his water.

"Hear what?"

"Hmmmmm...must have been my imagination. He shrugged and reached for his pack, pulling out some fried dumplings.

-----------------------------------------------

"What!?! Are you serious!?!" gasped Ino, not believing what Shikamaru was saying.

"Ino, when am I not serious?"

"Good point." She blinked. "Wow, they are the last two I would've expected to hook up."

"Same here. I can't believe you didn't know. I mean come on, you're Sakura's best friend aren't you? You'd think she would have told you."

"I don't think she knows. She would have at least hinted to it by now."

"Do you think they've told anyone?"

"If Sakura doesn't know then probably not. Shino might, since Kiba tells him everything, but he'd never tell us if he knows or not."

"Yeah, he'd never tell anyone."

"You think Kakashi or Kurenai know?"

"Doubt it. Naruto's not going to tell Kakashi anything like that, because he knows that blabber-mouth Jounin would tell everyone. And I don't think Kiba would have told Kurenai, even though she'd keep it a secret if he told her too. We might just be the only one's in the whole village that know."

"Know what?" asked Choji as he walked into the resturant.

"It's nothing Choji," dismissed Ino with a wave, "Don't worry about it."

"What, the think about Naruto and Kiba?"

Shikamaru and Ino blinked. "How do you know about that?"

"I heard Kurenai mention it to Asuma a little while ago."

Ino and Shikamaru stared at each other and blinked. "Remind me never to tell Kurenai anything I don't want Asuma to hear," said Ino, blushing slightly. Shikamaru nodded.

"So anyway..." said Choji as he placed his order, "What's knew with you two?"

-------------------------------------

Back at the training grounds the two oblivious teens finished up their lunch.

"I want that dumpling recipe," said Naruto as he packed the leftovers.

"Can't; it's a family secrete."

"Awwwwwww," whined Naruto. "Then you're just going to have to make them a lot more because I think I've fallen in love with them."

"As long as you grill at least once a month I will."

"Fair enough," he said as he threw his pack behind the log the had sat on.

"So anyway...what do you want to work on now?"

"I don't care. Whatever..."

"Okay then," he said as he pulled a hand full of shuriken out.


	12. Oh Crap

The sun was low on the horizon before they decided to throw in the towel. Well Kiba had to anyway. Naruto probably could have gone another 5 hours or so before he would have quit for the night.

"Where the hell do you get all that stamina from Naru-kun?"

Naruto just grinned.

Kiba shouldered his pack and sighed. "_If Naruto is this energetic after sparring all day, i wonder how energetic he'd be after...Whoa there, not even gunna go there right now..."_

He shook his head as he waited for Naruto to finished packing up.

--------------------------------------------

Back in town Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were still sitting in the resturant talking, mostly about Kiba and Naruto. Well, Ino and Shikamaru were, Choji mostly just munched and listened. None of them even looked up when Lee and Sakura walked in. In fact, it wasn't untill they were standing right in front of them that they noticed.

Ino looked up and saw Sakura standing right next to her, "Hey bill-board brow. What do you want?"

"Well, you and your big mouth are pretty hard to miss. You're practically yelling everything you say Ino-pig. Now whats this about Naruto?"

Ino laughed, "Wouldn't you like to know. Run along and leave the gossiping to me."

"Watch it Ino-pig. You mess with my teamates and you mess with me. Now, what are you saying about Naruto???"

"Nothing much, just debating weather he's lost his mind or not. What with him and Kiba being an item and all..."

"WHAT?!?!" she roared. "Don't you dare go around starting rumors like that!!!"

"But it's true Sakura," she said innocently. "Shikamaru here saw them together this morning."

"Shikamaru!!!" she grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and pulled him up out of his seat.

"Calm down Sakura!!!" pleaded Shikamaru, fearful for his life. "I'm not making it up! I really did see them together. I heard what they were saying to each other. Kiba even called him 'Naru-kun' and 'My little blonde Kitsune.' It's obvious that they're together."

Sakura lowered him back into his seat. "I swear, if you're making this up I AM going to kill you..." she growled dangerously before going to were Lee had sat down.

Ino waited untill Sakura was out of ear-shot before muttering very quietly, "Well, now we know if he had told her or not..."

------------------------------------------------------

And, as if on cue, who should walk in but Naruto and Kiba. They had decided to just stop at a resturaunt insted of going hom and cooking, being as late as it was.

"Speaking of the devils..." muttered Choji between bites of food.

They boys sat down in a both far from the others. They gave no sign that they had even noticed that the others where there. Completely clueless to the four sets of eyes that watched them, Kiba ordered their food. He rubbed his sore shoulders and talked quietly with Naruto as the waited for their order.

"Nothing looks different," muttered Shikamaru as he watched.

"Yeah, I've seen them together at this place before a few times."

Kiba reached up and pushed a stray lock of hair from Naruto's face.

Ino blinked, "I spoke too soon i think..."

Sakura's jaw was on the table. Lee couldn't see the boys so he was trying to get Sakura to tell him what was wrong, not wanting to turn around and attract attention to himself.

Naruto and Kiba continued to live in their own little secluded world, completely unaware of the shinobi watching them. It wasn't untill Naruto reached over and took Kiba's hand that they noticed anyone was watching them. And all it took was a very loud gasp from Iruka, who had just walked in with Kakashi, to do it.

"Naruto?!"

Naruto's head snapped up and he stared at Iruka. "Iruka-sensei!?!"

That's the problem with going to a resturaunt that's popular with the local shinobi, you never know who's going to walk in next.

Naruto looked around and finally noticed everyone else that was watching them. He and Kiba both blushed so red that they matched the marks on Kiba's face. "Oh crap..."


	13. Iruka's Outburst

"Oh crap..." muttered Naruto as he looked around and saw that everyone was watching them.

Iruka marched up and glared at him. "Naruto Uzumaki! What the hell do you think you're doing???"

"He-he-hello Iruka-sensei," he stuttered quietly as Kiba tried his best to melt into the booth.

Kakashi walked up behind Iruka, "Calm down 'Ru. It's not like you walked in on them making-out or something. They were just holding hands..."

Iruka glared at the silver-haird Jounin. Kakashi quickly shut-up, knowing full well that when Iruka's eyes turned dark like that it was best not to say anything. Turning back to Naruto he repeated, "What are you doing!?!"

"Um...I'm just having dinner with Kiba," squeaked Naruto, now scared for his life.

Iruka glared, waiting for more of an answer than that.

"We..um...that is...I...um...we..." stuttered Naruto, unable to form a complete sentence with Iruka glaring at him.

Iruka turned his attention to Kiba, who was still trying to make himself dissapear into the booth. "How about you Inuzuka. You going to tell me what's going on???"

"I...well...we...we were sp-p-parr-ring...and w-we d-d-didn't want to go b-back ha-ha-home, s-s-s-so-so we dec-c-c-ided to st-t-t-top-p-p here for din-n-ner..." he muttered quietly.

"Uh-huh," grunted Iruka flatly. "So when are you going to tell me why you where holding hands with Naruto??!"

"Oh come on 'Ru, isn't it obvious?" chuckled Kakashi.

Glare from Iruka.

Kakashi shut up.

"Well?" said Iruka to the boys.

Kiba stared at Naruto. _"You tell him!"_

Naruto stared back. _"Hell no!!! You tell him."_

_"He's your sensei!"_

_"So??? You're supposed to be the brave one!"_

_"Damn it Naruto! He doesn't want me to tell him! He want's to hear it from you!"_

_"Damn you and your logic Kiba!!!"_ Naruto sighed. He looked up at Iruka and swallowed hard. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls. "Um...Kiba and I...we...we are...we're...um..." he swallowed again, "...we're...dating..." he sqeaked the last words so quietly that they where practically unintelligable.

Iruka however heard them just fine. "You're dating..." He closed his eyes and nodded to himself. "You're dating huh?" he said with a slight smile on his lips. Kiba and Naruto nodded. Faster than the eye could follow, Iruka grabbed Kiba by the shirt and was dragging him outside. Naruto and Kakashi were too stunned to even begin to move. Iruka dragged Kiba outside into the alley behind the resturaunt. Loud unintelligable screaming was heard from back there. Phrases like "If you ever!!!" and "I will kill you in the slowest and most painful way possible" were heard eminating from the brunette Chunnin as he made sure Kiba knew just what he'd do to him if he EVER did anything to hurt Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

Several high pitched squeaks that sounded like promises.

The room went deathly quiet.

Iruka returns dragging a very scared looking Kiba with him. He drops Kiba back into his seat. He grabs Kakashi's wrist and drags him to their usualy seat. Everyone looks around at each other and blinks. _"Did that really just happen?"_ was the thought on most of there minds.

Kiba looked and felt like he was going to faint. Naruto was white as a sheat. This was why they hadn't told anyone sooner. _"Mental note: Never EVER wait to tell Iruka-sensei anything ever again..."_ thought Naruto as he tried to calm his racing heart. He honestly thought Iruka had dragged Kiba outside to beat the living daylights outta him. Kiba leaned over the table and as quietly as he could muttered, "I didn't know Iruka could be that forceful."

"I had being trying to forget about it. Last time he went balistic on me like that I couldn't sit for a week."

"Oh, so thats why you were standing up that whole day in class and he didn't say anything about it."

"Yeah," he shook slightly.

"I swear, Iruka acts more like a your father than your teacher."

"I wouldn't know. I don't really know how a real father acts. All I have to base my knowledge on is how Iruka acts."

"Well, he's a more protective parent than mine are anyway."

"I guess..." He looked up and over at Iruka and Kakashi. "How about we get out of here and away from Iruka before either of us does something else to get him mad."

"Yes, lets." said Kiba as he waved the waiter over and asked for the check. He paid and they left quietly, all the while being watched by Iruka.


	14. Damn Akamaru

They had walked about a mile from the resturaunt before either of them relaxed in the slightest. Since everyone already knew about them, or would soon enough anyway, Naruto had no qualms about holding Kiba's hand as they walked home. It wasn't untill they had passed the bridge that either of them said anything.

"Hey Kiba?"

"Yes Naru?"

"Does it feel weird that they know now? Or am I just imagining things?"

"I don't know. I'm still in shock because of Iruka. Ask me again tommarow."

"Okay."

They walked in comfortable silence the rest of the way.

--------------------------------------------

Kiba opened the front door and a very angry Akamaru headbutted him in the chest.

"What the hell Kiba!?!?! You forget I was here or something!?!?" barked Akamaru, beyond pissed at having been stuck inside all day.

Kiba lay dazed on the ground. Naruto leaned over and lifted Akamaru off of Kiba's chest, put him down on the floor beside him, and knelled next to Kiba. "You okay there Kiba?"

Kiba blinked a few times and tried to sit up. "I think so. Banged my head kinda hard though."

"That's what you get..." grumbled Akamaru.

Naruto helped Kiba stand up and led Kiba to the couch. Kiba was a little shaky on his feet so he hung on to Naruto's arm the whole time. Naruto ran back to close the door and stopped off in the bathroom to grab a bottle of asprin. He placed thebottle on the coffee table in front of Kiba and went to get a glass of water. Kiba rubbed the back of his head and reached for the bottle. He took the glass Naruto handed him and took a few pills. Naruto sat down next to him and looked at the spot where he landed. "Well, at least you didn't cut your head open." He rubbed the spot lightly. "Skulls not cracked, thats good. Gunna be one hell of a knot there by tommarow though." Kiba sighed and drank a little more water. "Leave it to a cranky Akamaru to ruin a perfectly good evening. Well, cranky Akamaru and psychotic Iruka anyway." Naruto nodded, "Thats just the way life is sometimes."

-----------------------------------------

There wasn't much to do accept to watch TV now that the sun had set. Kiba lay with his head in Naruto's lap as they flipped channels and Kiba waited for the asprin to take effect. That bang to the head had left him with a splitting headache. The fact that he still had a headache over 2 hours later concerned Naruto somewhat, having delt with several concusions during his lifetime and knowing the signs quiet well, but he decided not to say anything. Yet anyway. If Kiba's headache didn't get better soon he was going to call Sakura and have her come over to check him out.

----------------------------------------

And of course it didn't. If anything it got worse as time passed. Kiba didn't say anything about it though, not wanting to worry Naruto. Too bad for him the blonde could tell he wasn't feeling any better. It had been three hours since his head had connected with the tile of his floor before Naruto said anything. He looked down at Kiba and frowned, "Kiba, your headache hasn't gone away has it." Kiba looked up and thought for about half a second about lying to him, saying it had and he was feeling better, but something told him not to. "No," he said. "If anything it's gotten worse." Naruto smailed sadly and sighed. "I'm calling Sakura. I want her to take a look at your head. You might just have a concusion." Before Kiba could protest, Naruto picked up the phone and dialed Sakura's number. Twenty minutes later Salura arrived. She took one look at the knot on the back of Kiba's head and said, "Oh yeah, more than likely a concusion. Hopsital. Now." Kiba sighed. He hated hospitals.

---------------------------------------

Another hour later and Kiba was laying on a bed waiting to have his head CAT-scanned. It had taken Sakura about 5 minutes to conclude that he did indede have a concusion. Now it was just a matter of finding out how bad a concusion he had. That Kiba hadn't blacked out was a good sign; it ment that he hadn't suffered any major brain damage. Unfortunatly, concusions have a tendency to get worse the more time that passes before treatment. Naruto paced outside the CAT-scan room, waiting for them to bring Kiba out. Sakura stuck her head out and said, "We're done here Naruto. They'll take him back to his room in a minute. Go wait there." Naruto nodded and headed back to Kiba's room.

---------------------------------------

Sakura stayed behind to look at the CAT-scans before comming down to tell them the results. She walked in and smiled. "Well Kiba, you got lucky. It was a moderate concusion, but nothing a shot and some bed rest won't fix." Kiba blanched at the mention of a shot, he hated needles.

-------------------------------------

Sakura made him stay overnight for observation, adding insult to injury. Three things he hated most, hospitals, shots, and being stuck overnight in a hospital. Only thing that made that night even bearable was that Sakura let Naruto stay with him. Kiba didn't sleep well that night, and was overjoyed when Sakura finally released him the next morning.


	15. Glad To Be Home

"Never agin," Kiba kept repeating the whole way home. "Never again will I spend the night in a Hospital. If I ever get hurt bad enough to need an overnight at one just shot me."

"Oh come on Kiba. It wasn't that bad."

"Says you. You don't hate hospital. You don't mind small rooms. I'm claustraphobic. I _hate_ tight spaces. I'm not an indoor kinda guy. Being trapped in those small rooms overnight is my idea of hell."

"Whatever you say..."

Naruto opened the door and they stepped inside. Akamaru sat at the end of the hallway, looking very sad and sorry at the same time. Kiba smiled at him and he wagged his tail, happy to see his master was alright. He walked up and nuzzled Kiba's leg, not wanting to jump up on him. Kiba tried to bend over to pick him up, but hadn't quite recovered all his balance and nearly fell over. Naruto steadied him before picking up Akamaru and handing him to Kiba. Akamaru licked Kiba's face happily and the whole incident was forgotten.

------------------------------------------

With Kiba under strict order to take it easy for a day or two, Naruto had nothing to do. He didn't feel much like going anywhere, and he wasn't sure he wanted to talk to any of the other's for a few days. He thought it best for them to get all the gossiping out of thier systems before he did anything with them. If not for them then for his own sanity anyway. He really didn't approve of gossip, especially when it concerned him, but he knew better than to try and stop it. Best just to let it run its course. What else was there to do but unpack some of the stuff he had brought with him from his old house. He wasn't planning on leaving Kiba alone, not with a concusion, so he decided to just finish unpacking his stuff. It wasn't like he was going to be leaving anytime soon.

----------------------------------------

Luckily for Naruto, Kiba had plenty of extra space for his stuff. He was amazed there was enough room for his clothes. Naruto may always wear the smae jacket and same color pants, but he had plenty of other clothes too. What no one realized was that he had about 15 pairs of those same pants. Who could have guess Naruto liked to shop, even if his taste in clothes was a little narrow...

-------------------------------------

Kiba was asleep on his couch, snoring peacefully, Akamaru next to him. Naruto smiled, "_One little happy family..."_ He walked into the kitchen and started taking out food for dinner. He had a surprise for Kiba...

------------------------------------

Kiba woke up from a most plesant dream to an even more plesant smell. "_Mmmmmm smells like grilling steaks..."_ He looked around sleepily. He spotted Naruto outside on the porch. "_Is he grilling...?_" Kiba sat up to get a better look. Sure enough, there was Naruto, standing over the grill, flipping steaks. Kiba's mouth watered and he smiled. He loved it when Naruto grilled.

------------------------------------

Naruto glanced inside and saw that Kiba was awake. He flashed him a smile and flipped another steak. He watched as Kiba stood up and walked to the door. He slid it open and said, "Mmmmmmmmmm steaks... Those look good. What's the ocassion?"

"None. Just felt like grilling," he said.

Kiba sat down in one of the chairs he had outside. Akamaru walked out after him and jumped up on his lap.

It was cool outside, the breeze held the promise of the dawing spring, and they were happy

----------------------------------------


End file.
